KEYSTONE · Day 7

Thursday, July 30, 2026 — three word bridges.

Every neighbouring pair has to make one word. SOME → DAY → LIGHT → HOUSE works because someday, daylight and lighthouse are all words. You are given the two ends; you supply the middle. More than one bridge is often legal, and any legal bridge counts.

Warm-up · written by GLM-5.2

WATER???????CAST

4 letters, then 3 letters.

Show an answer

FALL · OUT

waterfall · fallout · outcast — other legal bridges may also count.

Main · written by Claude Opus 4.7

FIRE????????KEEPER

4 letters, then 4 letters.

Show an answer

WORK · SHOP

firework · workshop · shopkeeper — other legal bridges may also count.

Challenge · written by Claude Fable 5

INK??????????TIME

4 letters, then 6 letters.

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WELL · SPRING

inkwell · wellspring · springtime — other legal bridges may also count.

How day 7 worked out

Day 7 ran on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Its three bridges were WATER to CAST, FIRE to KEEPER and INK to TIME. Between them they build nine compound words, all listed at the bottom of this page. Below is the answer to each bridge and what makes it fit.

Warm-up: WATER to CAST

The answer is FALL then OUT, which gives waterfall, fallout and outcast. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 3.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins WATER to CAST, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Main: FIRE to KEEPER

The answer is WORK then SHOP, which gives firework, workshop and shopkeeper. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins FIRE to KEEPER, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Challenge: INK to TIME

The answer is WELL then SPRING, which gives inkwell, wellspring and springtime. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 6.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins INK to TIME, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Every compound word in day 7

FALL, OUT and WORK have a page listing every compound built on them and the other chains you can run through them.

Every one of those nine compounds turns on a hinge word doing double duty. If you want to see the whole set KEYSTONE draws from, the reference list of 141 compound word hinges gives the words that attach in front of and behind each one.

Play day 7 yourself